Transverse flute in C

This instrument was used by the donor's grandfather, Hezekiah Birt, who was born in Painswick (1813) and died in Stroud (1899). It is a side-blown flute made of boxwood, in five sections (head, barrel, top and middle joints, and foot joint), with ivory ferrules and silver keywork. It has six pewter-plug-cup keys (i.e. a nineteenth-century type of key in which the pad is a tapered plug of pewter or other soft metal riveted loosely to the key end, and the tonehole is lined with a similarly tapered metal bushing or sleeve that supposedly ensured an airtight seal), which are mounted in wooden blocks and foot stock bulge, and have flat springs attached to them. The open-standing low C and C-sharp keys have overlapping touches. The cap on the head-joint is also made of ivory. The embouchure hole is oval. Nominal pitch: C.